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LEWISTON, Cache County — A total ankle replacement is designed to help alleviate pain and stiff joints for patients who have painful arthritis in their ankle, and the number the surgeries is increasing due to improved technology.
Mark Blair has waited 12 years to walk pain-free across a room.The Lewiston resident said his ankle pain "got to the point where the pain was so bad I was thinking of amputation."
In his earlier years, he raced horses. "You would use your ankles a lot," Blair said, "and I had an accident once and broke my ankle."
Later in life, when Blair was in his 40s, he wrecked on a snowmobile and sprained both ankles.
Looking at Blair's X-rays, Dr. Ryan Rigby at Intermountain Logan Region Hospital said, "We could tell right off the bat Mark's ankles were shot. There's no cartilage left. These are arthritic."
After trying exercises, braces and injections, doctors suggested joint fusion to cure Blair's pain.
"Traditionally, we would fuse the ankle, which is still a good procedure that does help to alleviate pain," Rigby said. "But, unfortunately, an ankle fusion does come at a cost."
That cost is movement. Blair wanted to keep that motion of moving his ankle up and down so he could stay active. So Rigby suggested a total ankle replacement and performed the surgery just nine months ago.
"It's one of the best things I ever did," Blair said.
"Historically, these implants were not designed very well," Rigby said. "The implants were just mimicking the knee implants, and we know those two joints — ankles and knees — are completely different."
The new and improved technology for artificial ankle joints is customized with specific instruments made for each patient.
"A CT scan is sent to a company that then builds, via computer technology and programming, what their ankle looks like," Rigby said. "The instrumentations are different because everybody's anatomy is just a little different. It's nice to be able to do that, to customize it for the patient."
The surgery is also less invasive than it once was, which preserves more of the ankle.
At just 56 years old, Blair retired last year as a Lewiston firefighter — but he's not slowing down.
"You got to be busy. No sense sitting still," he said.
Thanks to his new ankles, Blair's "retirement" includes running a lawn care business and driving a truck for the U.S. Postal Service.
Rigby just hopes his patient doesn't go back to snowmobiling.
